E3 2014: Microsoft Needs to Grow a Pair, Sony’s Kicking Ass

This year’s E3 was filled with a lot of excitement and promise for gamers. Without getting too ahead of ourselves, it’s looking like there will be a plethora of great games, in 2015

A lot of games I looked forward to this year, Batman and Tom Clancy’s The Division for instance, were pushed to 2015. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of great games coming out this year.

But games are only a piece of the puzzle. Consoles are the glue that bind great games to gamers. Here’s my take on the winner (Sony) and the loser (Microsoft).

Microsoft

In an effort to regain any form of respect from gamers, Microsoft backpedaled their way to what they should have done with the Xbox One on day one. Instead of trying to cram unsuccessful peripherals down our throats, Kinect should have been optional and now it finally is.

Although Apps like Netflix and Hulu along with television enhancements are great items to have on gaming consoles, at the end of the day those Apps already exist on your smart TV, thus making it a priority over games like Microsoft did last year dealt a ton of damage to Xbox’s rep.

Microsoft’s Phil Spencer Q&A

This year Microsoft tried desperately to regain any form of cred from gamers by showcasing cross-platform games along with classic Halo titles that I can’t imagine anyone wants to play again.

In my opinion, Microsoft may have already lost this battle, by cramming last-gen internals into a huge block of plastic. There’s only so much you can do with software, they’ll never outperform their main competitor.

Having said, Xbox One’s interface is fairly solid. The Kinect features can be nifty when they work, but ultimately for a product mainly targeted towards gamer’s wallets, it falls flat.

Just Dance 2014

Sony

Sony did what they do best. Learn from their mistakes and release innovative hardware and software. With no pretense they announced blockbuster games after blockbuster games. Hitting on all the exclusives hammering it down to gamers that if you want the best in next-gen gaming, PS4 is where it’s at.

Instead of nickel-and-diming their way into people’s homes, they announced a fantastic peripheral that allows PS4 owners to play games on a second TV without buying a second PS4. They briefly touched on the VR headset, project Morpheus, which I’m wholeheartedly excited for. Sony also briefly mentioned PlayStation Now, a game streaming service much like Netflix.

In Short

Sony wins yet again. I had high hopes that Microsoft would finally learn from their mistakes. Announce new sexy hardware, better services and ultimately interesting exclusive titles but alas they’re still playing catch up.

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